W I N T E R 2011
tions, but there is a difference. This generation is more likely to hold the life issue as one among many for use in comparison as they make political decisions. He was concerned about the potential change in priorities and so am I. It would probably be too far to tell young people they should only think and act politically on the basis of the life issue, but I think there is danger in a way of thinking which would hold that favoring “creation care” is morally equivalent to endorsing pro‐life policies. The danger is this: Young people who embrace “creation care” do so with the nodding approval of the entire modern me‐ dia/Hollywood/academic/political establishment. It doesn’t take a lot of courage to hold that position. Being pro‐life (if one is serious about it) is still a countercultural position.
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t is sometimes said that the type of relationship a person has with his father will have an effect on his perception of God. I suspect the same is true of how one views authority more generally.
When I entered Florida State University in 1988, one of my first courses was an honors section in American literature. For the first time in my relatively sheltered life, I absorbed the liberal jeremiad against the white male. Regardless of the collective merit of that case (I suspect the prob‐ lem has much to do with human beings and power and less to do with white males specifically), I kept thinking of my own father. Did what I was hearing square with my own experience of the white male who had authority over me? It did not. As a professor today, I realize that what I did in class was a bit silly, but one day I’d had enough and held up my hand to be recognized. When called upon, I explained that my father was one heck of a great guy and defied the constant negative stereotype I was hearing. I’m sure I convinced no one as the reasoning from the specif‐ ic to defy the general is not always meaningful. But the greater point is this. My father’s love and leading in my life caused me to respect him and to want to defend him and others like him. He was (and is) a hard working man, a tremendous solver of problems, an extraordinarily smart individual, and a patient person. In addition, he gave generously of his time. How many hours did he 113